Sustainable Families Program
(Family Advantage! Program)
About the Program
An interactive program for families from all walks of life that provides them an opportunity to learn sustainable gardening skills, positive parenting skills and healthy socio-emotional skills to create a more harmonious family life. Each participating family is able to cultivate their own raised grow-bed at the FECH program site and can choose from a variety of flower, vegetable and fruit seeds/plant starts to cultivate.
This program is held on Fridays from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM during the Spring and Fall semesters for 12 weeks. The schedule for each program session is as follows:
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Family gardening time
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Curriculum hour (parents and children are placed in separate groups for skills-building activities. On certain Fridays during the semester, families will remain together to complete a Family Together Activity)
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Family dinner and clean-up
The gardening portion is lead by FECH President, Norman Tansey and the parenting education portion is lead by FA! Program Facilitator, Linda Perry. The program is also supported by Normie Jean Taylan (FECH’s Program Support Coordinator) who implements the program’s youth curriculum (under Perry’s direction) as well as by awesome volunteers who assist with the cooking of meals and assisting youth participants as needed.
About FA! Program Facilitator, Linda Perry
Linda Perry has been a part of the FECH Ohana for more than a decade as the Sustainable Families Program’s facilitator. She provides a wealth of knowledge in Adlerian parenting through her roles as a long-time lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (teaching both Parenting & Family Life Education courses) and as the former head of Ho’ala School in Wahiawa. She creates and implements the program’s curriculum and provides guidance to parents on positive parenting.
About FECH President, Norman Tansey
In addition to being FECH’s President, Tansey wears a lot of “hats” for FECH including being FECH’s main presenter and the facilitator of the YA! Internship. Tansey brings in a lot of experience, fun and energy as a longtime agriculturalist and former FECH volunteer. He is also an avid soccer player and coach.
About Program Support Coordinator,
Normie Jean Taylan
Taylan first became involved with FECH as an undergraduate intern in Spring 2019. After gaining experience on FECH’s operations through the internship and graduating from UH Manoa with her Bachelor’s in Science degree in Human Development & Family Studies, she joined the FECH ohana as its full-time Program Support Coordinator in September 2020. She is a wife and mom of 6 keiki.
How to Participate
Prospective parent participants must complete a registration form and provide the $150 registration fee each semester. This payment can be made via cash or check (addressed to FECH).
Please stay tuned to the registration period for the upcoming semesters by signing up to be a part of our FECH Ohana:
Parent Participant Feedback
Parent participants took part in focus group discussions with FECH Evaluator, Kelly Grace during the Fall 2024 semester. Through these discussions, parents shared their experiences of the program and feedback for its improvement. Grace recorded their feedback and summarized them in a FECH Progress Evaluation report she completed in April 2025. This image is a word cloud or compilation of the feedback received from the parents on their program experiences.
Image courtesy of Kelly Grace
